Naruto: A Second Chance
by From The Depths Of Fear
Summary: This is the story of Uzumaki Naruto living his life as a wannabe shinobi. But when he gets a reoccurring nightmare showing a horrible future with people who he may or may not know dead with a giant beast with ten tails behind them. he begins the path of the ninja differently in a more intelligent manner. Will have a smarter stronger Naruto but not godlike.
1. Chapter 1: A New Beginning

If anyone reviews this I would appreciate constructive criticism but don't flame it if you have a complaint I would love to hear why you are complaining I am sorry that this first chapter is a bit on the short side but they will get longer.

Disclamer I do not own Naruto and never will

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_A new beginning_

There it was, the most powerful of the Biju, the Juubi (Ten tails) in all of its glory. The beast was condensing chakra in the shape of a ball just in front of its mouth preparing for any of the Bijus' most powerful attack the legendary bijudamma. Naruto realised this and using his Biju mode was rushing to create one of his own to counter it so to protect him and his friends. To do this he quickly gathered the last remains of his biju chakra to fire one off. He knew that if he did this he would be vulnerable but to our favourite shinobi his friends were always more important than him. After he released his ball of chakra towards the Juubi the latter also released its ball of energy. Naruto's mind was at peace now that his friends would be safe. He felt relief strike him. However that changed when all of a sudden he noticed the man on the beasts head add his own chakra to the already terrifying bijudamma, then Naruto looked on with a look of horror on his face. The bijudamma of the Juubi was now tearing through his own and once it broke through his considerably weaker one it came right for them. However due to the energy spent fighting against Naruto's bijudamma it exploded prematurely and for Naruto everything went white.

At this moment Naruto was thinking, one thought 'I can't die, I can't die, I can't die! I have got to save my friends, the world, everyone is counting on me I simply cannot lose.' With these thoughts he unknowingly accesses the Biju cloak which in these few moments is all he needed to survive the blast. His friends were not so fortunate. After a few seconds Naruto found the strength to look around. To his horror all of his friends, his precious people were laying on the ground, eyes glazed over or face first in the soft and moist dirt. Naruto quickly strained his body to the limit just to stand up where he finally saw who the bodies belonged to. He recognised them as Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Sakura and Sasuke. Although his reunion with Sasuke was short lived Naruto felt the most joy he had felt in the years since Sasuke's betrayal. After all of that hard work Sasuke was now laying before him dead. Naruto just did not know what to do and then just at that moment another bijudamma was fired off at Konoha, and then all the other villages one by one. After all of this Naruto fell to his knees with a look of despair on his face and he cried out in despair "I I I'm too weak, h h how could I let this happen. A A After all this Why couldn't I just die with them! Why! I I wish that it could have been me!" After this declaration as if it could hear the Grieving cries the Juubi turned and faced Naruto and charged up a bijudamma and fired it at Naruto.

At this point of time he thought 'Now is my turn my friends I can now leave this world as well. I will be seeing you soon.'

Just as he closed his eyes a human figure appeared in front of him and blocked the huge ball of chakra and then repelled it back towards the giant beast. The mystery man who was standing in front of Naruto wore a cloak with nine tomoes not dissimilar to Naruto's Biju mode. Then Naruto felt the power within him rumble and quake but above all of this Naruto heard Kurama say **'Father'**. To say Naruto was shocked would be an understatement. For after Kurama's words Naruto realised that the person who was standing in front of him was none other than the Rikudou Sennin. Naruto gasped and then the sage turned around and laid his eyes on the blonde before him and saw his clear blue eyes and remembered his prophesy. He then notices the tears under Naruto's eyes and asks "Why are you crying boy, you must never give up hope no matter the circumstances, you must always look to the future and never give in to the darkness of the past."

Then Naruto's face changed and turned to a smile and he replied with "Yeah I guess you're right. However there is no longer any other human on the earth the Juubi and Madara have killed them all. There is no hope for the human race to ever recover." Naruto said with tears of sadness streaming down his face. Then he remembered just who it was he was speaking to and looked into his three eyes and said with newfound hope "But you're the Rikudou sennin right? Who nearly had the power of a God and is considered one amongst the Shinobi. Surely you have come up with something, anything!" Naruto screamed in desperation.

The sages face twisted which gave Naruto the idea that the sage was thinking as hard as he could before his face lit up and then he went into a frown after realising the consequences of this jutsu of his. After contemplating his thoughts for a while the almighty sage had made a decision. (All the while they were talking the Juubi was preparing itself to launch another attack) The sage spoke to Naruto and told him "indeed there is a way in which I could stop this however that would require me to reverse the hands of time itself. I could handle it but you would not remember anything and would be reverted back the day you were born. This would mean that this occasion would merely repeat itself. However there is a way in which I could bring possible awareness to this dire future. I could give you a horrible nightmare whenever you are not performing at your best through your own will and are instead slacking off of your capabilities. This would cause you to not flunk the academy and be the best you could ever be.

Naruto thought hard and fast, contemplating what could happen in this separate future and then he finally came to a decision "I accept your offer, even though it could bring me pain I believe that this is the one way I could protect my friends. Please do the honours."

"As you wish Child of the Prophesy. _Kami no jikan hanten_ (Divine time reversal)

After those words were spoken Naruto saw light engulf him. Then all he see the world was fading into darkness. The last thing he saw were the Sage's legendary eyes of the Rinnegan and then it went blank.

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In a small hut in the outskirts of Konoha a red haired woman was giving birth to her first born child. Her husband was standing next to her holding her hand the whole time and in a final scream of agony out of the woman came a tiny little baby boy with three whisker like birthmarks on each cheek. The two of them looked at him with Pride when they saw him they only could think that he was perfect. As the midwives walked away to check the baby the husband and wife spoke of their happiness. But then all of a sudden there were screams of pain and they quickly turned to see their baby in the hands of a masked stranger with a Sharingan eye who said "Hokage, step away from the jinchuriki or this baby dies in a minute"

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I will try to update once every two weeks but may update more often since it is the start of the story however on occasion I may have a school essay to do and won't have time for it. Thank you for reading this and Please review so I can learn how to better my writing skills. Who knows you maybe by commenting you end up helping me with my English essays as well. :-)


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Konoha

Firstly a few people who have left reviews were asking questions. The answers to VicRB's questions are that there will not be a pairing involving anybody form Konoha and Naruto. The second answer is that I will not have anyone/thing remember the events of cannon Naruto. This is because the Jutsu reverses the fabric of time and well the whole world is reversed in time. Therefore nothing know about it. I thank the reviewers Kurama Thunderstorm and Echoing Mist for giving me advice. Now, let the story begin I do not own Naruto and never will.

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_Welcome to Konoha_

A young boy of roughly seven years of age with golden hair, stunning blue eyes and adorable whisker markings on each cheek was currently attempting to get to sleep to escape the horrors of his life in the orphanage and enter the blissful realm of dreams where he was The Godaime Hokage of Konoha and gramps was bowing at his feet. His dreams were his only release from hell other than the food of the Gods aka Ichiraku Ramen and the occasional visits from gramps when he was not doing hokage stuff. However his dreams were not always pleasant. On one or two occasions he had a dream with Konoha in ruins and the villagers saying it was his fault, and that he was a demon. After these dreams he would wake up scared and run to the hokage tower to be calmed down by gramps and to be told that everything was going to be okay and after much whimpering Naruto would hug the old man. Naruto would then calm down and fall asleep in the arms of his protector and smile sweetly in his sleep when Naruto smiled the old kage could not help but smile as well. Naruto's smile was always infectious to those who knew what truly lied under the boy's skin, not a demon but a kind-hearted young boy. After Naruto fell into the warm embrace known as unconsciousness he was assaulted by wondrous dreams of adventure and bewilderment.

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In the morning Naruto was awoken from the warm embrace of a family he never knew to a bucket of Ice cold water thrown onto him and was up as quick as a bolt of lightning. Once he was awake he checked his clock that was on his bedside and noticed the time being 5:25 AM. With a grown of irritation he was out and quickly was changed and had brushed his teeth in time for today's chores that start at 5:30. He knew not to be late or else he would be punished and have to do an extra hour before the other orphans were awake and then be starved of his porridge slop. Once he arrived at the designated area for his jobs with at least 30 seconds to spare he was given his first job of the day, Toilet cleaning. After the strenuous task of cleaning the three toilets for the orphanage of 70 children he was told to mop the floor and tidy the common room. Naruto did all this without a single complaint, he knew the punishment for insubordination and never wanted to receive that Hell ever again. After his hour of solid cleaning and putting away he toys that he was not allowed to use neatly away in their separate boxes, it was time for breakfast. Breakfast for Naruto consisted of very sloppy high water content porridge with nothing to add to make the flavour taste any better, since he knew the price of refusing to eat "such a generous offering that he should be grateful for being allowed to even pass his lips" as the oh so generous Matron had called it. So he reluctantly ate it with a straight face and then thanked the woman for the 'lovely meal' he left the table and decided to go about his daily business as he normally would.

When it reached 10 O'clock he instantly scurried out of the orphanage and ran straight to his first stop. This of course was none other than the area that crafts the delicacy that Naruto can only describe to others as the food of the gods Ichiraku Ramen. Once he was there he was greeted happily by the two that ran the Ramen stand a twelve year old girl who Naruto had lovingly named his nee-san Ayame and the old man himself, the master of the business the King of ramen Teuchi. Naruto quickly said his hellos and then asked for four bowls of miso pork ramen. Naruto's first bowl came the second he said the word ramen. This surprised the young boy but the loving smile given by Teuchi when he handed the bowl to Naruto made Naruto realise that they had prepared in advance for his arrival. After a quick ITADAKIMASU! Naruto dug in to the bowl with a ferociousness that would never seize to amaze the two people behind the bar. Once Naruto had finished inhaling his first bowl the second was placed before him and the circle continued. After Naruto had finished all four bowls he talked to the two kind people behind the bar about how things were going for him and asked them questions such as how was their day. Once their conversation was over Naruto hopped of the stool and landed on the ground. Once he had left the flaps his smile was turned to a neutral expression as he noticed all the glares and some of the people mentioning not too loudly but just enough for him to hear "isn't that the demon boy" and "why is he even allowed on the streets, he should be locked up for all he has done to us." Naruto just ignored them and bit his bottom lip while walking to the hokage tower.

* * *

When Naruto finally made it to the hokage tower he walked past the secretary and strode into the office of the old kage with a smile on his face. Once he was seated next to the old man's desk watching him work, patiently waiting for a moment when he could ask the old man questions that had been bugging him lately. Once the man had finished what he was doing Naruto would ask questions such as "What is it like being hokage" and "When will you give your hat to me old man?" He would ask affectionately.

The answer would always be "when I believe you are ready" or "once you become a fine shinobi and prove yourself to the village." The old Sarutobi loved to answer his questions and queries.

However when the question was about what it meant to be hokage, the old man would become serious and tell Naruto this "When you are hokage it is your duty to protect the village and villagers with your life. Even if the people who are in danger are people you do not particularly like, when you become hokage everyone matters. If you imagine the hokage as the leaves of the great tree known as Konoha while the civilians and shinobi are the trunk. If you think like this then you will see that even if the leaves wither and die the tree will not fall over and eventually new leaves will grow in their place but if the great trunk tumbles down then the tree will die and shall seize to exist. This tells us that if the hokage dies a new one will be made to replace the old one and the village will eventually return to full strength but if the citizens and shinobi fall then the village will wither away and die. This is why the villagers are so important, so even if they do not like you and vice-versa you will still have to protect them with your life. As is the duty of hokage. Even with this knowledge young Naruto-kun do you still wish to be hokage?" The old man patiently awaited the young boy's reply.

"After what seemed like years for the old hokage Naruto thoughtfully replied. "If I gave up on my promise now what kind of person would I be. Last year I swore on top of the Yondaime's head that I would become the hokage and protect those precious to me. Only now that I have your reasoning it just means that I have to make the whole village my precious people then I won't have to worry about my reasons for wanting that hat of yours ttebayo!"

The old man smiled at the young boy's antics and thought 'if only the villagers were as kind-hearted as you Naruto. Then I would not have to deal with all these problems.' After his thought process the old man chuckled and said to Naruto. "That's good to hear. I am proud that even after my little talk to you your dream continues on. However I do believe that you will still need to wait a little longer until I can give this hat to you willingly." After the hokage said this he let off a light hearted chuckle that was instantly replied with a large toothy grin by the young boy before him. The old kage smiled and thought 'it is remarkable how brightly the will of fire burns in you Naruto. I am sure that you will achieve your dream.'

After their conversation Naruto eventually ventured into the subject of who his parents were. This was always a tough subject for the old man because he severely wanted to let the boy know who his parents were and his heart always broke when he had to tell him. "Your parents were very brave and strong shinobi who loved you very much and were very upset that they would not be able to see their lovely son grow up." This broke his heart because he could see that look of betrayal in the young boy's eyes.

Naruto could tell that the old man knew his parents personally and Naruto thought that he probably knew them very well. This was why he was always so saddened when gramps would not tell him who they were and would always just leave it at how they were great shinobi who loved him. Although Naruto was disappointed in the fact that gramps would not tell him more about his parents. He also would at times wonder why they left him alone with no one to care for him. This would always bring nasty thoughts into his mind and he would wonder if gramps was even telling the truth when he said that they loved him. He would think 'what kind of parent abandons their child when he is having such a rough time.' Although he was upset that gramps would never tell him the full story he respected the old man's decision and knew that he could never hate him.

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After being told that it was getting late and that he should head back to the orphanage he agreed with his gramps and made his way back down the dimly lit streets towards the orphanage on the other side of the town. Whilst he was walking he noticed the crowds of drunk villagers mingling with some of the drunk chunin. After a while he noticed that some of the crowd was following him. Although this revelation worried him, Naruto continued walking back to the orphanage where he knew he would be somewhat safe for the night. Whilst Naruto was walking back the crowd of drunkards was slowly getting larger. Naruto could see the road that led to the orphanage when he heard the shout of one of the drunk villager saying let's get him!

As soon as these words left the man's mouth Naruto flinched and started running as though his life depended on it. This statement in many ways was proving to be the case. The moment that Naruto started running the crowd of large men charged at the young and defenceless boy. As Naruto was running he could see the orphanage in the distance and started pushing his body to near breaking point. However the young 7 year old was just not quick enough as he suddenly felt extreme pain hit against his side and he fell over. The crowd then shoved him with extreme brutality into a side alley that was rarely used by the public. The group of drunkards then decided that now was as good a time as any to unleash the boy's due punishment upon him. The fully grown adult men were beating the crap out of the young boy before them all the while chanting horrible things such as "that's what you get demon child" and "you're lucky that we didn't get our hands on you earlier or you would be feeling ten times worse." In the crowd men were shouting out "get him for my brother. He is dead because of you."

All this time poor Naruto had no idea why they were doing this. The people were chanting death threats at the young boy who just thought 'What have I done to deserve this. I don't remember doing any of these things. I have never killed anyone or deliberately been mean to anyone. Just why ddoes everyone hhhate mme so mmmuch I just ddddon't understand.' Then the young boy started crying. Tears slipped from his eyes and splashed against the ground. His silent sobs unheard by the crowd. Even if they did hear his soft cries of anguish why would they care? What would that have done to make them stop? He just continued to take the beating.

After a few more seconds of this torture he thought of something. He thought 'why am I so weak? I can't even protect myself then how am I supposed to protect the whole village when I am hokage. I need to get stronger. But that is impossible. Nobody would train me, how could I possibly get stronger when nobody wants me to.' "It is just not fair!" he screamed out by accident not realizing that he had said that part out loud.

All of a sudden the beatings stopped. They stared at him as if he was crazy then on of the chunin walked up to him and told him. "Beating you up unfair? That is the dumbest thing I have heard all night. We are just getting payback for what you did to our village. Now that you are in you human form we can hurt you and you cannot do anything about it because you are weak!" Those words resonated with him stronger than any of the previous words that had been said to him that night. 'Your weak' these words hurt him more than any kick that was delivered to him that night. It felt as though someone had stabbed him through the heart with a frozen icicle.

The chunin then walked in front of him and pulled out a kunai. This motion shocked all the drunks to the core. All of them then said in a mumble of worry. "Put that thing down. We were only planning on teaching the demon a lesson. If you kill him you're signing all of our death warrants!" they screamed at him.

However the crazed chunin did not listen to them. The 25 year old believed that as long as it was him that ended the demons life, his family's murder at the hands of the fox would have been solved and he could have his revenge. He knew that he was signing his death warrant and the death warrant of many other people but he did not care. He believed that if he killed the demon boy and was executed the villagers would treat him as a martyr that died for the greater good in all things. He even thought 'maybe I will have a festival in my honour made by the villagers.' The crazed ninja made his way towards the young, terrified boy with a crazed look on his face. The man took a swipe aiming for Naruto's jugular when all of a sudden out of the shadows a kunai flew at rapid speed and hit the man in-between the eyes. A shot of blood spewed out of the wound and the man fell forwards and landed on Naruto. Naruto looked in horror as the now dead man's blood was flowing freely from the wound on his head onto his scruffy white shirt. The other people who were with the now dead man instantly ran with their tails between their legs away from the masked member of the anbu corps.

The anbu operative then walked towards Naruto and took him out from under the dead man. He then looked at Naruto and thought 'how could they do this to such a kind-hearted child I am ashamed to know that the civilians and some ninja are so cruel and horrid to such a young boy. He could only look at Naruto and think 'I have failed to protect your son Minato Sensei.' Naruto sighed in relief now that it was over then he looked at the man before him. The last thing that he saw was

* * *

In his dreams Naruto awakened in the location of a warzone. He then stood up and realised that he was not in control. Naruto saw through the eyes of this person what lay before him. Naruto was shocked. What he saw before him were 11 dead bodies. One had bright pink hair, another had black hair and a fan emblem on the back of his shirt, one had a spiky pineapple head, another had long flowing blond locks of hair, there was one chubby one, two with glazed over pale eyes, one with tribal markings on his face, another was in an anorak, one had her hair in two buns and the final was wearing a very unusual green spandex jumpsuit. In the distance he saw a great beast as black as the midnight sky with one giant red eye, then it fired a mysterious something at him. Just as the giant ball was heading his way he woke up with a start to find himself in a bright white room. Naruto screamed while he woke up. That nightmare was one of if not the worst of his life. His screams died down when the medics came into the room. All he could think was 'why did I have that dream?'

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Thank you all ever so much for reading this chapter of Naruto: A Second Chance. Please review and leave ideas on how I could improve. I love improving my writing skills for you pleasure and my own.

Thank you for reading and I may release a new update tomorrow or next Saturday. Thank you for reading :-)

Will be updating tomorow. chapter name is _The Mysterious Dream_

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i am really sorry for the delay in update but I was foolish and stupidly left my laptop charger a school so I may Not. Update for a while. On top of that the chapter was quite hard to write so I hope you will forgive me and I promise that I have not abandoned this story. Because I hate people that abandon stories that they have not finished. So well until next time this is from the depths of fear and see you in a little while:)


	3. Chapter 3: The Mysterious Dream

**AUTHOR NOTE**

I am really sorry for the lateness of this update. I just had major problems with my laptop and am going to get a new one for christmas. I am now using my I pad because my laptop performed a one off where it actually worked so I decided to e-mail the file to myself (I know genius much, sigh) so now that it is on my I pad I should be able to update sort of regularly now. Due to the long wait I am sure you all believe that this will be a great chapter, which in my opinion is much better than the other chapters. I am testing out a sort of new writing style with more descriptiveness and hope that you will comment on how you feel it is.

I do not own Naruto and never will.

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_The Mysterious Dream_

Naruto screamed while he woke up. That nightmare was one of, if not the worst nightmares of his life. His screams died down once the medics rushed into the room. To start fretting over him. However he took no notice of them at all, the only think he had on his mind was. 'Why did I have that dream?'

* * *

The Hokage had been coming in and out of the hospital for the five days that his surrogate grandson had been unconscious. Worried sick about how Naruto was faring and constantly hoping that the young boy would get better quickly so that he could return to his usual duties as Hokage. He could remember with great ease and it stung each time he recalled how Naruto was when Inu had brought the young boy to the hospital.

_Flashback no jutsu_

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The old Hokage was horrified when he learned that Inu had just brought Naruto to the hospital after finding him on the brink of death. After the Hokage found out he immediately rushed to the hospital to talk to Inu who had not left the boy's side since he had placed him in the hospital. Once the aged man and the Anbu captain were done setting up the privacy seals the Hokage told Inu to remove his mask. Once the mask was off, the Anbu captain was easily recognisable as Sharingan no Kakashi the copycat ninja. Although the Anbu level ninja wore a mask it was easy to see that the famous ninja was feeling upset just by looking at his visible right eye.

The Hokage decided to speak up. "This isn't your fault you know, just because you decided last week that this night would be your designated day off doesn't mean that they planned it around that." The only reply the Hokage received was silence. "Kakashi the townspeople and chunin were drunk and disorderly meaning that it would be impossible for them to have had a plan of action." The Hokage was met with more silence. "If it was anyone's fault that this tragic event happened it was mine." At this remark the copy ninja filched. The Hokage continued. "Naruto and I were having a conversation long into the evening. I discussed with him the true meaning of Hokage and after that explanation his dream still burned just as brightly as ever." Kakashi almost smirked at that, key word almost. "However it was getting late into the night and I warned Naruto on how he should head back to the orphanage soon or else he would be late for curfew. The look on his face at that would make anyone believe that the boy had just seen a ghost. After that he was getting ready to rush out when I asked him if he would like me to escort him. He made a wise crack at how people my age should stay indoors so as to not catch a cold, then as quick as the wind he rushed out. I barely had time to say goodbye." Kakashi did have a slightly different look on his face now. It could almost be mistaken for a smirk but Anbu level ninja don't smirk. Do they?

After the Hokage had finished his chuckle Kakashi finally spoke to the old man. "I guess you're right it's not my fault but it is also not your fault. This event was just a great big accident that had nothing to do with anybody but a bunch of stupid drunken idiots. Still I just wish I could have been there for him, just like I wish I could have been stronger back then for…" Kakashi paused for a moment as if just mentioning the names of these people would bring a curse on him. "… them." He finally sighed out. You could see the regret on his face and the slump of his shoulders.

"The Hokage noticed Kakashi's dampened mood and told him "I know you blame yourself for their deaths but you have to realise that that was not the case. It was not your fault that the two of them died. You need to accept their deaths and move on. The two of them died as proud Konoha shinobi defending their comrades and the leaf as a whole. You need to stop acting like a green genin! get over their deaths like a proud member of the anbu corps!" The old man nearly bellowed.

Kakashi flinched at the harsh yet true words and then looked down in shame. He knew that he had to get over their deaths but he just didn't know how he would get over their deaths. However he would try. Right now though he had no time to be worrying about these things, instead he had to pray to kami that his sensei's son would recover from his injuries quickly. However there was nothing he could do to aide in his recovery. "You're right Hokage-sama. It is not my fault but I do not know if I will be able to get over their deaths. They helped me realise where true strength comes from. The fact that they are gone is not what bothers me the most, it is the fact that never got the chance to say thank you to them... they helped me more than they will ever know."

At this the old Sarutobi smiled and told the young Ninja. "That's good to hear. I am glad that you no longer believe it to be your fault. Now I do believe that we should get going now. Have no fear Kakashi I have only my most trusted Anbu watching over the boy. I do believe that it is time that you got some rest you go along and head home now." After that both men took there leave from the hospital room and hoped that the young bundle of joy would be better soon.

_Flashback no jutsu Kai_

* * *

The Hokage looked out of his window and sighed. When the villagers had discovered that the so called -demon brat- was hospitalised they were overjoyed. When things like this occurred the Hokage would almost always shed a tear for his surrogate grandson. The boys first seven years of life were very rough and he just wished that he could have made a difference. However since the boy was a civilian and not a shinobi the Hokage did not have control and the civilian counsel were in charge of all things to do with Naruto's life. It was times like this that he cursed his predecessors trust in the villagers. He could almost not believe the trust his successor had in the people of his own village. To think that he would leave his first and only child with no official guardian, other than his sensei who was always out of the village for his spy agency, was just ludicrous. He believed that the civilians and lower strength ninja, who knew nothing about the art of sealing, would treat the prison of the Kyuubi as a hero. Phfft there was no chance of that happening. That man was supposed to be a genius, the Hokage just guessed that common sense was not included in the academy curriculum.

While the Hokage was pondering an anbu knelt down on one knee before his desk, with his head bowed and hand over his heart the anbu called out in the most emotionless voice they could muster. "Hokage sama. Uzumaki Naruto has just awoken. I felt that you should know of this development."

Once the old Hokage heard that he sighed a sigh of relief and stated to the anbu currently kneeling before him. "Good, you are now dismissed." With those words out of his mouth the old man stood up from his softly padded seat, took a glance at the piles of paperwork that seemed to have just increased by one foot while he was distracted and thought 'Screw it, my grandson is more important. But do not fear my enemy, for I will deal with you later.'

The Hokage almost went about exiting the Tower like he would in the days of his youth, however he quickly remembered that the window was not an appropriate mode of exit for a man of his age and stature. He turned around with a slight blush on his face. It was mostly hidden by the shade from his grand hat but was just noticed by one of the anbu hiding in the shadows. This was followed by a slight snicker, the Hokage's face went from slight embarrassment to a look of pure ice. He looked to the shadow and said "Rookie two days of suspension for revealing your position. If anyone else was here they could have easily removed you and taken you out. Keep your emotions in check." With that said the Anbu in question shot out from his corner like a shadow and was quickly replaced by another blur then they disappeared. The Hokage then continued forward and walked with his head high out of the doors, walked past the secretary, down the stairs and out of the main doors of the tower heading towards the Hospital.

* * *

Once the old man had reached the hospital room he walked in through the door. He was met with an unusual site. The doctors and nurses were fretting all over Naruto. The Hokage had to wonder why, 'they never fret over him even if he is covered in blood what could be wrong' he thought. He then called out to Naruto but he received no reply. With slight worry now evident in his eyes he calmly walked up to the boy and quietly asked how he was. What he saw now terrified him. Naruto looked his way and gave him an acknowledging glance. This immediately worried him, the Hokage then looked into Naruto's eyes and was shocked at what he saw, Naruto's eyes held none of his usual happiness, instead Naruto's eyes were a void of all emotions except for two, sadness and depression.

Naruto then spoke up. He said in a low and depressed tone "hey old man." He then paused for a while and looked around the hospital room he was in and sighs. "It looks like I am all better now" he spoke quietly with some fake joy added for good measure. He then glanced at the old man's face and realised that instead of the usual joy in the Hokage's face whenever he woke up from being in the hospital the Aged man's face held signs of deep sadness and regret. Naruto then quirked his head to the side in curiosity and asked "Oi whats wrong old man, cheer up, I am all better now." He then hops up and points to himself and looks at his body form all angles possible and turns to the Hokage and says "see!" with a fake smile that seems highly realistic just hoping to get the old man's mood up from whatever was causing this sadness of his.

The Hokage's frown shifts to a smile, he knows that Naruto is putting up this act to make him forget about the young boy before him and focus on being happy again. The aged man then shifts his smile back to a neutral expression and then says, "Naruto you know that that is not entirely true." Naruto shifts is head to the side in a seemingly confused manner and the Hokage just sighs. "Naruto, nothing can get passed me, you know. Why do you think I am the Hokage? It not just because I am the most powerful shinobi in the village you know. To be a ninja and especially a Kage one has to not only be strong but also perceptive. So of course I can tell that you are not fully okay 'on the inside at-least'." he added the last part just to himself. "So please Naruto, just explain to me what is wrong and then you will feel much better, is that okay my boy?"

Naruto took a look at his options, one would leave him wondering about his nightmare all by himself, which is never good but the other might make his beloved grandfather figure think that he is slightly crazy and got hit a little bit to hard on the head during the previous incident. 'agh, just what should I tell him.' Hiruzen could see the young boy's inner turmoil but chose to leave him to come to a decision on his own. In the end Naruto finally gave out to the ageing Kage and almost spilled the beans amongst the hospital staff, who were by now looking at the pair waiting patiently for a new development. Naruto then said to him "okay gramps, just can it be in a more private place, cause it is kind of embarrassing to talk about." He said sheepishly.

The Hokage then looked at the blonde eyed boy with a slight quirk on his face and then spoke out "fine if you want we can move to my office, now come we have much to discuss." The curiosity on the faces of all the hospital staff present grew even further, They all thought 'the obnoxious brat has something to embarrassing to say in front of others, who'd think that that could ever happen. The brat is the most outgoing, un-shy person in the world' After the old man had said his words Naruto's face beamed and he inelegantly leaped out of the hospital bed and bolted out of the rooms to the Hokage Tower. The Hokage let out a small chuckle and followed suit towards the grand Hokage Tower.

* * *

While walking through the village the Hokage can see the faces of the villagers faces scowl in disgust at Naruto and very quiet mentioning of the words 'demon brat' could be heard through whispered tones but all it took for them to stop was a glance and a pathetically low amount of Killer intent (am going to abbreviate it to KI in the future) from the Hokage and their mouths shut quickly and they moved on to continue with their daily routine without so much as a second glance to the boy that they had just discovered had recovered from a close call with death much to their displeasure, they all thought 'we could sleep safer at night with the demon finally dead.' Naruto could see the villager's looks but knew that nothing he did would change it 'for now at least I will have to deal with it' he thought. He knew that if he reacted they would only get worse so he put up his mask of pure happiness with smiles abound. This made the villagers look away because they could not tell what he was really thinking so they all thought he was just really naïve to the world around him. With the villager's attention diverted he only concentrated on reaching the Hokage tower in one piece. He knew he was safe due to his gramps walking some five metres away from him. He loved the Hokage, he was one of only three people who truly cared for him other than Ayame and Teuchi, he treasured his bonds over anything else and hoped that he could forge new ones when he joins the Academy in a year and a half, sure he has spent the last two years at civilian school but they only teach boring stuff and all the people in his year seem to dislike him. They say it is because their parents tell them not to go near him. That is why he is looking forward to going to the academy, he hopes that the clan children will be kind to him, the ninja from clan backgrounds seem to like him but the ninja from civilian backgrounds seem to dislike him. So he naturally assumes that the clan ninja wouldn't teach their children to dislike him, that would just be strange, wouldn't it?

So once they finally make it to the Hokage Tower they walk through the main door are greeted by the secretary with a smile and enter the Hokage office. Where The old man nearly has a heart attack. He remembered that he had only left his greatest enemy half an hour ago yet it's forces had already almost tripled in size it was unfathomable, just how high could a pile of paperwork grow in half an hour. The young blonde is immediately scared, 'what ever could put the old man in such a position must be an unbelievable foe' his rational mind thought. He then bravely snuck around the door to have a peak at this monstrosity, when he saw what put the old man in this state of his Naruto immediately sweat-dropped and comically face-planted to the ground. The loud thump is what brought the old Hokage out of his stupor. In a worry the Ageing man turned to make sure the boy was alright when he was suddenly yelled at by said boy, "BAKA YOU HAD ME REALLY WORRIED JUST THEN, I THOUGHT THAT THERE WAS A POWERFUL ENEMY NINJA THAT COULD KILL ME. THEN I FIND OUT THAT IT WAS JUST SOME STUPID PAPERWORK, YOU DAMN FOOL, OLD MAN!"

Suddenly the Hokage's face went to a degree of coldness that Naruto had never seen before in his life. The Hokage then said in a cold unforgiving voice "young Naruto you do not understand, that mass of evil there is not just paperwork, it is like a cage trapping me in, the horrors of which you have never seen before in your life, maybe if you become Hokage one day you to will understand the pain and trauma that is caused by such an uncaring foe, for now I will forgive you, but remember if you ever say that it is just some stupid paperwork again I will make you sit here for a whole week and have you do it, all the while with me watching you, it will be difficult, tiring and you will want out, but no matter how hard you try I will not submit until the whole thing is done, am I clear?" he said in a hushed angry voice, when all he got was a slight nod and a quiet murmur he then repeated louder "I SAID, AM, I, CLEAR!"

"Yes Hokage Sama, you are clear, as crystal." Naruto stated with obvious fear of the price he would pay if he was thought to be disrespecting the paperwork and not acknowledging it as an enemy of such worthy of such respect.

The Hokage relaxed and was back to the cheery old man that Naruto knew and loved. He then asked calmly as if the entirety of the previous conversation never existed. "Naruto-kun it is good to see that we are on the same page as each other, now what was it that you wanted to talk to me about again?" he asked with the loving tone of a grandparent in his voice.

Naruto felt a large lump build up in his throat and in his nervousness started sweating. He then said with nervousness in his voice. "This may seem like a bit of a stupid reason to come to great lengths of privacy, but I had a nightmare." Then before the old man could react to ask what it was about he quickly said "although this may seem ridiculous, I did not have any normal nightmare, it was different. It was as if I was seeing the world through someone else's eyes." at this the Hokage was about to interrupt to to his fears of what the young child saw, yet Naruto continued on. "I was lying on the ground, in great pain," at this the old man seemed to relax thinking 'at least he wasn't the fox in his dream, that would require a lot of explaining' Naruto was still going on in his description, "after a while I ushered the strength to get up, but it wasn't me in control of the movement, what I saw next horrified me, there were dead people everywhere, it wasn't me in control and I could feel the emotions of person who I was. They were of great sadness and regret. I could hear what they were saying to himself. They were repeating the words 'I am to weak', they repeated it over and over again. Then when the person looked up all I could see was an extremely blurry shape of a creature," this is where the Hokage's heart nearly stopped. He thought 'no please do not say what I think you are going to say next, please I cant have your dreams being influenced by that thing, it might take away your innocence, please no, I beg you kami' "the creature's shape was extremely blurry but it was massive, the size of mountains." The Hokage nearly stopped Naruto right there but knew he had to let him finish. "It was to dark to properly see it's shape and colour but I did see what was behind it. It had attached to it what appeared to be tails, I could not see how many but there were more than five." The Hokage was thinking 'it has infiltrated his dreams now he will never be able to sleep peacefully again.' Naruto kept continuing on "it then looked like a figure on top of it's head helped it make a big ball of energy that it fired at me. However before it came into contact with me, the world faded into darkness. While in the Darkness I heard another voice speak out to me, sounding like my own, it said 'you are to weak, you will never be able to protect anything, nothing you do could ever make a difference. You will lose.' It kept repeating that for ages until I opened my eyes in the Hospital." Then Naruto's voice started to waver and he then flung himself into the old man's arms and cried out in sadness. "I was s-s-so s-s-scared gramps. I-I-I was s-s-so a-af-afraid." He then started loudly crying with tears rolling from his eyes.

The old Hokage was almost brought to tears too. He started to gently pat Naruto on the back and whispering to him that it would all be okay. He knew that this was serious. Not only did he believe that the Kyuubi was messing with the young boy's dreams, but he was messing with them badly too. In all he time he had ever seen Naruto while he was in the village, nothing had brought the young boy even close to shedding a single tear, so for Naruto to be crying this openly, meant that the dream must have been awfully traumatising for the boy. He knew that he had to do something, but he also knew that he could not do anything openly for the boy, because it word of the Kyuubi influencing the young child's dreams got out, many civilians would call for the death of the demon, and Danzo would most certainly ask for permission to train the boy saying that as he is he would be a possible threat to the village. So Hiruzen knew he had to tread carefully on this matter. However the next few words that came from the young child that was currently in his arms shocked him greatly. Naruto then asked The Hokage. "Old man please will you train me. I need to become strong, stronger than anyone, then I can prove that dream wrong. If I get training from you I will become much stronger than the voice in the dream could ever imagine, I will become the best and then you will just have to hand that hat over to me, you hear. Nobody is going to stop me from becoming stronger I will become the strongest Hokage in the world so that voice just has to stop and I will show him that you never underestimate Uzumaki Naruto. So please, gramps train me." Naruto begged after removing himself from the lap of The Hokage.

Hiruzen could see the fire to get stronger burning in his eyes and just knew that Naruto would become the finest of the Hokage and at Naruto's request he would be one of the people that help him achieve his goal. Even though at the mention of the beast within Naruto's dream he was already thinking of training him. However he still would have to deal with the council. The Hokage highly doubted that they would be all to happy if he just out of the blue suddenly started training Naruto. But he was the Hokage and did have final say in anything related with the Ninja arts so if a child wished to train to become a ninja then he would have final say in it. He decided then and there that he would never pay heed to the votes of the civilian council when it concerned important matters such as Naruto. After all they were only supposed to give advice to the Hokage on some occasions. 'yes I will start to rule konoha stronger now, I am no longer Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage who came out of retirement I am Sarutobi Hiruzen the God Of Shinobi, the name of which would send fear to all enemies of Konoha.

"Of course Naruto, it would be a pleasure to train you, after all we don't want that dream to beat you, we must overcome this together. However I warn you training will be tough, and I expect you to do most of the work. I will merely oversee your training and set you goals that you must achieve. This is because I am the Hokage and can't spend all of my time training a little brat now can I." he then starts to laugh. This causes Naruto to put on his angry face (you know the one where his eyes go pure white and he starts yelling, yeah that face.) and starts saying things like 'take that back' and 'I am not a brat, old man.' After the Hokage stops laughing teary-eyed from Naruto's hysterical reaction he says "Naruto face it you are a little on the small side. This is due to you eating only Ramen, and before you start rambling on about how Ramen is the food of the Gods it is not very healthy. It is a miracle that you are still so fit and healthy, that is why I am going to put you on a new diet. Naruto, You will eat whatever is in this diet and if you don't you will not be allowed ramen for a three whole weeks, each time you break it. And you can only have ramen every three days, you can't have too much on those days either, I will personally talk to Teuchi about these new eating habits of yours so he will know.

The words that just came out of the Hokage's mouth nearly made Naruto faint. He simply could not believe it 'only allowed ramen once every three days, is he trying to kill me? Surely he knows that I can only get food from Ichiraku's ramen. All the other shops wouldn't give me the time of day. They only ever allow me to buy the food that has just gone out of date, and at a ridiculously high price.' So after thinking this all ridiculously quickly he instantly replies "Gramps! Are you trying to kill me! How am I supposed to get food!"

The Hokage then gives an evil smirk. "by hunting and foraging of coarse. Where do you think the shops get that food from in the first place. They get the meat from hunters who they buy it off and the vegetables they either get from foragers or farmers. So if you want meat, you hunt. If you want fish. You go fishing. And since vegetables and fruit are in this new diet of yours you must set up a garden or go foraging. Since you can't just magic a full grown garden from out of nowhere while yours is growing you can have full access to mine." There was a short awkward pause where Naruto was gaping with his mouth open and the Hokage was smirking. "does that answer your question Naruto-kun?" in his stunned stupor all Naruto could do was slowly nod, still unsure about this new diet idea but knew that he would get no training unless he partook in this new 'healthy, balanced' diet that the hokage had forced on him, so he weighed the odds and the training was worth it. The Hokage even said that it would help with his growth, and what seven year old boy does not want to grow tall? That's right none of them, so with this new diet possibly helping his growth Naruto took the plunge, he would accept this training and become the best he possibly could so as to show that dream what Uzumaki Naruto is truly capable of. Seeing that Naruto truly was willing to train his heart out made the old Hokage smile, although his training was going to be hell for the inept Naruto he knew that Naruto truly was a Genius, it was just that nobody gave him the time of day and because of that he locked his prodigious nature under lock and key to keep himself oblivious to all of the hardships of his life. The old Hokage saw that just now the mask had just broke and that The great mind of Uzumaki Naruto was ready to be moulded into a true ninja.

"Naruto, the training will be tough, you will hurt, you will bleed, at some point you will think that you hate me, but this training will make you into a force that will take the Ninja world by storm. When you are older you will receive a jounin sensei, just like all fresh genin teams, however do not fear for our training program will still continue and who knows at some point you may impress someone enough for them to wish to give you an apprenticeship, and that you should do for it will only accelerate your growth. Then maybe one day I will finally be able to hand this hat over to you boy. What do you say, Naruto, are you ready for hell?"

Naruto looked up at the face of the elder man while thinking 'with his help I will become strong, stronger than all the previous Hokage, no I will become the strongest ninja in the world' "of course, Hokage-Sensei, I will do what ever you ask, from now on sensei I will train under you and I will be the best I promise, and I never break my promises.

* * *

And that's a wrap people, woah that took a long time to write. I really hope that you enjoyed it. One again I am sorry for the late update people I will update in a little bit maybe but this week is going to be pretty busy school wise, I have exams during the next two weeks and am preparing for them so I amy update once they are over. But this new chapter is my oath to you that I will continue this story and complete it. Please post comments because I really enjoy reading them and love to hear all of your opinions.

This has been From The Depths Of Fear, peace out and have a good one.


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